FIFA temporarily lifts Nigeria ban

[News_Editor]

FIFA temporarily lifts Nigeria ban

2010-10-09 01:20:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (BNO NEWS) -- The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on Friday announced that its Emergency Committee has decided to provisionally lift the suspension of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

"The decision was taken after observing that the situation had taken a positive turn in recent days, with the claimant at the origin of the court actions publicly committing itself to withdrawing its claim," FIFA said in a statement.

The federation also stated that the acting General Secretary of the NFF has returned to his post and the issue of the Nigeria League had been left totally within the ambit of the NFF.

"The suspension has been lifted provisionally until 26 October 2010, after noting that the next hearing before the court is scheduled for 25 October 2010 and that only then can the judge vacate the court orders," FIFA said.

However, FIFA warned that if the NFF still found itself in court actions or any other issue preventing it from working freely on that date, the suspension would automatically be confirmed until all problems have been definitively solved.

On Monday, FIFA had announced that its Emergency Committee had decided to suspend the NFF due to government interference.

The ban was originally issued because the acting NFF General Secretary on the instruction of the National Sports Commission stepped down due to government interference. Then, the Minister of Sports decided to start the Nigerian League without relegation from the previous season.

With the announcement, Nigeria will be able to participate in this weekend's match against Guinea in the Nation's Cup qualifier.

Last June, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan suspended the Nigerian national football team from any international competitions for the next two years after a disappointing World Cup participation. The Nigerian team did not win a single game and earned only one point in the first round of the tournament.

However, such ban can only be imposed by the NFF, CAF (African Confederation of Football) or FIFA and never due to poor performance. President Jonathan also ordered a financial audit of the World Cup project to investigate any misuse of funds and any wrongdoing related to the project.

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